[Chapter-delegates] 2% for Stronger Chapters: Making real the board goal

Thu Apr 25 12:47:37 PDT 2013

+1

On Thu, Apr 25, 2013 at 3:20 PM, John More <morej1 at mac.com> wrote:

> 1+
>
>
> On Apr 25, 2013, at 3:06 PM, Veni Markovski <veni at veni.com> wrote:
>
>  I'd support this idea - as a beginning.
> ISOC should do this as a pilot program, and immediately implement it. Give
> each chapter a chance to prove themselves, and those of them, which are
> successful, should get more funds, and those who are not, should get more
> support from ISODC and other chapters, to be more successful next time.
>
> v.
>
>  On 04/24/2013 18:51, Ted Mooney wrote:
>
> David,
>
>  I just emerged from two days of meetings.  I wanted to get back to you
> just so you know that your suggestions aren't falling into the ocean.
>  Enhancing the chapter administrative capabilities is a hot topic as you
> know and one on which we will stay focused to resolution.  I was on a call
> with our European chapters on Monday in which we discussed this issue.  You
> may recall that Jordi  Iparraguirre made a number of proposals how we might
> address chapter administration and I voiced support for the process he
> suggested.  I and other staff would like to participate in the Chapter
> Admin Support  working group proposed.  I expect such a group will be
> composed primarily of chapter members and will address how we can jointly
> resolve chapter administration issues in both the short and long term.
>  Jordi has posted a spreadsheet in which he asked chapter members to
> provide a list of administrative issues and potential solutions.  We would
> like to have the working group take that spread sheet and see what concrete
> proposals can be made and move forward. Your participation is welcome.
>
>  You raised two other issues in you mail that merit a response for
> clarity.
>
>  1.The role of the economist has been vetted by minds more savvy than
> mine on this issue and we are proceeding consistent with our principles of
> neutrality and transparency.
> 2. The Internet Society is governed by the Board of Trustees and managed
> by staff.  It convenes multiple stakeholders on a variety of issues of
> Internet technology and policy.  It is not, however, by charter or by
> action a bottom-up organization itself.  That said, we are committed to
> understanding, learning from and incorporating input from out communities
> of support.
>
>  With the Board's statement affirming the role and importance of
> chapters, the Internet Society Staff has a renewed mandate for assuring
> strong support for chapter work and organization around the world.  I look
> forward to the coming months in particular as we make progress on all the
> issues of chapter strength, vitality and collaboration.
>
>  Best regards,
>
>  Ted
>
> Ted Mooney
> Sr. Director, Membership & Services
> Cell: 301-980-6446
> Skype: ted.mooney3
>
>  www.internetsociety.org
>
>
>
>
>
>  On Apr 23, 2013, at 10:22 PM, Dave Burstein <daveb at dslprime.com> wrote:
>
>  Folks
>
>  Great to see the board wants stronger chapters
> "Board re-affirmed that the Internet Society is a mission-driven
> organization, and addressed the strategic role of Chapters in the
> achievement of the ISOC mission.  As a follow-up to this meeting, the Board
> agreed that Chapters are vital to advancing the mission, principles, and
> values of ISOC at the local and regional levels and they contribute to
> ensuring the organization is globally and locally engaged. The Board was
> sympathetic to requests by Chapters for support in their essential
> operations,"
>
>  Let's make this real by shifting 2% of the budget ($500,000) to the
> chapters immediately, enough to give each chapter that applies $5-10,000
> over the next 12 months. It won't transform the chapters, but is enough for
> 20-40 hr/month admin and/or several events with $1,000 budget and/or
> economy travle for 1 or 2 members to a major meeting.
>
>       It's almost certainly a more efficient use of funds than hiring
> expensive people in DC or Geneva and flying them around the world.
>
>      This is a "just do it" proposal to reinforce the bottom-up,
> multistakeholder model in the Internet Society itself.
>
>       We have professional management that certainly can rearrange 2% of
> the budget. There's an obvious source in not filling two positions
> currently open on the website: one's for an economist with strong
> experience in fundraising
> http://www.internetsociety.org/jobs/senior-economist  and the second a
> newly created position for a marketing communications manager.
> http://www.internetsociety.org/jobs/marketing-communications-manager .
> There's presumably ~$400-500K in the budget for those postions and related
> expenses.  There are several other open positions with six figure salaries
> and expenses where the money could be more effectively spent on local
> programs.
>
>      We all know that most funds that can be raised in our field come
> with serious strings attached; the last thing an ISOC economist or any
> policy person should be doing is begging interested parties for money. That
> job should never have been created because of the obvious influence on the
> policy proposed. ISOC is already fighting back against claims we're unduly
> influenced by multinational corporations and positions; tying policy so
> closely to fundraising just provides ammunition to such attacks.
>
>     And while it might be valuable "to develop, manage, edit and review
> existing collateral for marketing effectiveness and adherence to brand
> guidelines" we already have some hard-working professionals doing that. The
> money would be much better spent bythe chapters working directly in the
> field, I believe.
>
>       Going forward,  I'd bet shifting 10-20% of the ISOC budget to local
> efforts will result in far more impact than spending the money as we now
> do, but that will take time to organize.
>
>     I hope chapter leaders will rise up with proposals how to make this
> happen and that the center can see the wisdom of being a less "top-down"
> group.
>
>  Dave Burstein
>
>
>  We've got experienced senior managers who
>
>  --
> Editor, DSL Prime, Fast Net News, Net Policy News and A Wireless Cloud
> Author with Jennie Bourne  DSL (Wiley, 2002) and Web Video: Making It
> Great, Getting It Noticed (Peachpit, 2008)
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>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
>
> --
>
> Best,
> Veni Markovskihttp://www.veni.comhttps://www.facebook.com/venimarkovskihttps://twitter.com/veni
>
> The opinions expressed above are those of the
> author, not of any organizations, associated
> with or related to him in any given way.
>
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>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>

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